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As a healthcare provider who has been talking to teenagers about sex for more than 20 years, we need to recognize that talking to ANYONE about sex is not ever going to be comfortable for some people.

Abstinence can be encouraged and reinforced in teen, but they WILL eventually have sex. Doesn't anyone want their kids to be less bewildered than they were entering into a sexual relationship than they were?

I usually tell kids that there's really no GOOD that can come from sex in HS. Maybe neutral oucomes, but often bad outcomes. Pregnancies, infections, hurt feelings, embarrassment. I tell them intimate relationships are very complicated and often based in emotions we don't understand very well as teenagers (or adults for that matter). I also tell them there's plenty of ways to be intimate without having intercourse.

This is such a HUGE void in most peoples knowledge base that I can't believe parents would really want to withold this information from their kids. Justifying it by saying "we don't teach them how to drink responsibly" is an obvious example of justifying one mistake with another.  We don't teach our kids what they really need to know to keep them healthy.

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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